We are accustomed to choosing electors by popular vote, but nothing in the Constitution says it has to be that way. Article II provides that each state shall appoint electors “in such Manner as the Legislature thereof may direct.” Since the late 19th century, every state has ceded the decision to its voters. Even so, the Supreme Court affirmed in Bush v. Gore that a state “can take back the power to appoint electors.” How and when a state might do so has not been tested for well over a century.

Trump may test this. According to sources in the Republican Party at the state and national levels, the Trump campaign is discussing contingency plans to bypass election results and appoint loyal electors in battleground states where Republicans hold the legislative majority. With a justification based on claims of rampant fraud, Trump would ask state legislators to set aside the popular vote and exercise their power to choose a slate of electors directly. The longer Trump succeeds in keeping the vote count in doubt, the more pressure legislators will feel to act before the safe-harbor deadline expires.

To a modern democratic sensibility, discarding the popular vote for partisan gain looks uncomfortably like a coup, whatever license may be found for it in law. Would Republicans find that position disturbing enough to resist? Would they cede the election before resorting to such a ploy? Trump’s base would exact a high price for that betrayal, and by this point party officials would be invested in a narrative of fraud.

The Trump-campaign legal adviser I spoke with told me the push to appoint electors would be framed in terms of protecting the people’s will. Once committed to the position that the overtime count has been rigged, the adviser said, state lawmakers will want to judge for themselves what the voters intended.

https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2020/11/what-if-trump-refuses-concede/616424/

Chris Matthews
@HardballChris
Trump is right to show respect for RBG. True presidential behavior. Far too rare.
11:39 AM · Sep 21, 2020·Twitter Web App

https://twitter.com/therecount/status/1308018515283267589

The Recount
@therecount
·
5h
Trump on RBG's reported dying wish that next pres fills her seat: "I don't know that she said that, or was that written out by Adam Schiff and Schumer and Pelosi. I would be more inclined to the second ... But that sounds like a Schumer deal or maybe a Pelosi or Shifty Schiff."

President Donald Trump took his fight against Fox News to the network itself during a Sunday interview with Mark Levin.

The wide-ranging interview meandered from the California wildfires to an attack on Chicago that then became a complaint about Afghanistan and more. But at one point Trump turned to lash out at Fox News on the network itself.

“The Washington Post is a disaster,” Trump began. “You can’t get a good story. It’s disgusting. And then you go to ABC. NBC is probably the worst of all. Concast. I call it Concast. Not Comcast. It’s a con-job because they always try and protect their name like how legitimate they are. NBC is horrible. CBS is a disaster. Then you go into the real beauties MSDNC as we call it. And, of course, CNN. But at least CNN you know where they’re coming from. You know they’re stone-cold dishonest. At least you know that. So, it’s a sad thing. It’s a very sad thing. Fortunately, local press is extremely good. I get great local.”

https://www.rawstory.com/2020/09/trumps-fox-news-interview-turns-into-therapy-session-as-he-rants-about-bad-coverage-on-the-network/

For months President Donald Trump and his top administration officials have been promising the coronavirus vaccine would be ready by November 1. White House chief of staff mark Meadows this week said “potentially” be the end of September. Trump, too, has pushed up the date, suggesting a vaccine could be ready in early October.

After CDC Director Robert Redfield testified before Congress on Wednesday that a vaccine would not be ready until early spring of 2021, or some time in the summer next year, Trump claimed he had been mistaken.

Calling it “historic progress we’re making to deliver a safe and effective vaccine in record time,” Trump announced “three vaccines are already in the final stage.”

And then, Trump declared, “we expect to have enough vaccines for every American by April.”

https://www.rawstory.com/2020/09/watch-trump-now-says-vaccine-by-april-not-nov-1-as-hes-promised-for-weeks/

Aaron Rupar
@atrupar
"The governor of the [Nevada] tried to make it impossible for us to have a rally" -- the president seems unaware that there's a pandemic happening right now

https://twitter.com/atrupar/status/1305842440910385152

“He tried to make it impossible for us to have a rally,” Trump said. “Finally we got, from a great supporter, gave us this very big building and we put people in. But this wasn’t our fault! We had four outdoor sites… and he wouldn’t allow it to happen!”

Bill Corbett
@BillCorbett

The Running of the Chuds

Mark Meredith
@markpmeredith

· 5h

Just watched a sea of people rush to the front of the barricades ahead of tonight’s rally in Minden, NV.

https://twitter.com/BillCorbett/status/1305007013743779846

Toots & The Maytals
@tootsmaytals

It is with the heaviest of hearts to announce that Frederick Nathaniel "Toots" Hibbert passed away peacefully tonight, surrounded by his family at the University Hospital of the West Indies in Kingston, Jamaica...



https://twitter.com/tootsmaytals/status/1304670520605106176